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Walmart Prepares for a Future Where AI Shops for Consumers 73

Posted by BeauHD from the time-is-money dept.
Walmart is preparing for a future where AI agents shop on behalf of consumers by adapting its systems to serve both humans and autonomous bots. As major players like Visa and PayPal also invest in agentic commerce, Walmart is positioning itself as a leader by developing its own AI agents and supporting broader industry integration. PYMNTS reports: Instead of scrolling through ads or comparing product reviews, future consumers may rely on digital assistants, like OpenAI's Operator, to manage their shopping lists, from replenishing household essentials to selecting the best TV based on personal preferences, according to the report (paywalled). "It will be different," Walmart U.S. Chief Technology Officer Hari Vasudev said, per the report. "Advertising will have to evolve." The emergence of AI-generated summaries in search results has already altered the way consumers gather product information, the report said. However, autonomous shopping agents represent a bigger transformation. These bots could not only find products but also finalize purchases, including payments, without the user ever lifting a finger. [...]

Retail experts say agentic commerce will require companies to overhaul how they market and present their products online, the WSJ report said. They may need to redesign product pages and pricing strategies to cater to algorithmic buyers. The customer relationship could shift away from retailers if purchases are completed through third-party agents. [...] To prepare, Walmart is developing its own AI shopping agents, accessible through its website and app, according to the WSJ report. These bots can already handle basic tasks like reordering groceries, and they're being trained to respond to broader prompts, such as planning a themed birthday party. Walmart is working toward a future in which outside agents can seamlessly communicate with the retailer's own systems -- something Vasudev told the WSJ he expects to be governed by industry-wide protocols that are still under development. [...]

Third-party shopping bots may also act independently, crawling retailers' websites much like consumers browse stores without engaging sales associates, the WSJ report said. In those cases, the retailer has little control over how its products are evaluated. Whether consumers instruct their AI to shop specifically at Walmart or ask for the best deal available, the outcomes will increasingly be shaped by algorithms, per the report. Operator, for example, considers search ranking, sponsored content and user preferences when making recommendations. That's a far cry from how humans shop. Bots don't respond to eye-catching visuals or emotionally driven branding in the same way people do. This means retailers must optimize their content not just for people but for machine readers as well, the report said. Pricing strategies could also shift as companies may need to make rapid pricing decisions and determine whether it's worth offering AI agents exclusive discounts to keep them from choosing a competitor's lower-priced item, according to the report.

Walmart Prepares for a Future Where AI Shops for Consumers More | Reply

Walmart Prepares for a Future Where AI Shops for Consumers

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  • Where I can buy dog food online.

    I don't even like buying groceries online because half the time the produce is garbage. This is just more wishful thinking on the part of companies hoping to replace the employees that run the stores.

    Then again there's been so much consolidation that these companies can just force it on us if they want. We sure should don't have the cojones to stop them.
    • I buy all my dog food online.

    • Where I can buy dog food online.

      Since buying dog food online has been a thing for quite awhile, I'm assuming this was your attempt at metaphor that might've gone over better in /r/im14andthisisdeep rather than Slashdot.

      • I believe the point he was trying to make is that dog food is all that he will be able to afford once the AI has taken his job.

        I read somewhere long ago that dog food is better for people than cat food because cat food has too high a protein content, plus the extra taurine.

    • Amazon, just like most anything else.

      Pet stores also sell online.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      I think you were going tor a joke but didn't quite get there? One possible interpretation might have been something like "I'm expecting a future where I can only buy things online" or something along those lines.

      Not that Walmart has been any part of a solution for real problems. Rather Walmart mostly profited by consolidating a crazy business model, making a bigger target to be squished by the big shoe of Internet shopping.

      Fundamental problem is that a retail shop is not a plausible warehouse for any concei

      • "My strangest recent idea involved allocating shelf space in proportion to sales, while considering profitability and continuous restocking for popular merchandise that sells steadily."

        In other words, Walmart.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by shanen ( 462549 )

          Haven't been in a Walmart in decades, so can't remember any evidence of your report. However if it is so, then it does seem to be another case of IOttMCO? The stores where I do shop definitely seem to offer too much shelf space to slow-selling options.

    • The dystopia is already here, just google / youtube "Temu Haul" and you find dopamine addicted shoppers buying cheap Temu clothes to keep their "shopping as recreation" hobby going.

      The old "I recycle" and "compulsively spend on clothes" types who cannot connect that the two actions are in direct conflict.

  • away from getting free will to open and empty their customer's wallets without their explicit permission for each and every transaction.

    Will you have to sign a durable power of attorney in order to have their AI purchase things it thinks you need on your behalf?

    What happens when it racks up your credit card balance by buying things you didn't need or want because of some bug^h^h^feature?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mspohr ( 589790 )

      I think Amazon tried doing this a few years ago.
      They would look at your browsing history and send you stuff that they thought you might want even though you hadn't ordered it.
      I don't think they are doing this any more... probably didn't work out... probably just generated a lot of returns.

  • >"These bots could not only find products"

    That would be great. It is hard enough finding stuff I want/need.

    >"but also finalize purchases, including payments, without the user ever lifting a finger."

    Um, no thanks. What could possibly go wrong with THAT.

  • Downside for retailers? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Friday May 16, 2025 @09:25PM (#65382333)

    Reduced impulse buying by you and your kids.

  • Hahaha . . . no (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nehumanuscrede ( 624750 ) on Friday May 16, 2025 @09:28PM (#65382337)

    Hell, I don't trust any of the " smart " appliances to be network connected nor do I allow any devices off the local network unless
    I give it explicit permission to do so.

    I don't use Siri, Cortana or Alexa. I don't trust my phone enough to log in to anything that requires login credentials.
    ( Will never allow it access to my bank and / or my accounts )

    I don't have Smart Lights, Thermostats, door locks, etc. etc.

    My home is about a dumb as I can make it because I have trust issues with the companies who create / sell all of these devices
    in the first place.

    They are not trying to make your life easier, they are trying to learn all they can about you and there is no line they will not cross
    in order to make that happen.

    That said, I believe I will do my own shopping thanks :D

    • I agree.. its pretty clear it is all just a manipulation game. Sad that people can't just have smart features for people.

    • A.I. disappointed in . . . you!

    • Similar, although I do have a fairly smart home, built out of pi's and beaglebones that I wrote the software it is running. My TSTat's are "smart", except never given the wifi password to phone home. One day I may replace them with a homebrew. I have managed to tap into carrier's infinity protocol and have replaced the AC control board with my own. I think very achievable to replace the TSTat with my own if I really wanted.

      I would never authorize an AI agent to make purchases on my behalf. Never. Heck I wo

  • 1. If it were supplied by a company other than those which are selling the products to you [conflict of interest]
    2. The company providing the AI would have to owe a fiduciary duty to the customer [putting the customer interests first]
    3. The company providing the AI would have to have insurance capable of undoing any transaction found to be fraudulent, due to a data breach, program bug, or if the promise of fiduciary duty was broken.
    4. There would have to be fine grained permission, spending limit, and auto

    • This service probably would never be offered as it wouldn't be lucrative to any company wanting to provide such a service.

      I know this story is about groceries and other "consumer items" but the 4 bullet-points you provide are how I envision for AI-assisted investment portfolio management in 10 or 20 years. As for "wouldn't be lucrative," I expect that in at least some countries your second point, fiduciary duty, is or will be required by law. Once that's in place, the other requirements aren't so "non-lucrative" anymore.

      Back to shopping for the consumer:

      I think the AI-shopping experience will first be marketed as a behind-th

  • Wal-Mart is how the poor stay poor. (Score:3)

    by Smonster ( 2884001 ) on Friday May 16, 2025 @09:30PM (#65382343)
    Well, mostly it is mostly uneducated people who shop at Wal-Mart. So why not let an algorithm tell them what poorly made garbage that will fall apart in six to twelve months they should waste their money on. Spend a little more money on a better made product and you only have to buy it once. Or at least significantly less often. Which means you’ll end up saving money in the long run. If it isn’t food or soap and don’t you have more money, wait until you do. You don’t have the object now. What is another couple weeks or month? Wal-Mart is poster child for how poor people stay poor.

    • The problem with your theory is that that "better made" stuff isn't just a "little" more money, it's a *lot* more money. I say this as a regular Walmart shopper myself.

      That $60 carry-on bag at Walmart? Sure, you can get a better-made one somewhere else for $300. But why would I do that? I can buy 5 of the cheap ones for the price of that "well-made" one, and it's not going to last five times as long.

      Clothing? I buy $10-15 shirts at Walmart all the time. Why would I pay $60 for a "well-made" shirt at another

      • Buy higher quality items from Costco instead. They rarely carry crap, or not for very long. The luggage won't cost 5x as much. I have some Kirkland brand luggage that's 25 years old and still going. Except for the cat pee smell I can't get rid of, sigh. Still waiting for the right enzyme formula to be invented. Not even the California sun can get rid of the smell, I hope it will be, which is why I didn't throw away the luggage.

        I bought a new Delsey set at Costco recently. French design, but made in Cambodia

        • I respect Costco, they sell good merchandise at good prices. I just went online to check out their luggage, and found many of the exact same models that I can find at Walmart. I'm pretty sure they're carrying the same stuff.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by madbrain ( 11432 )

            There may be some overlap, sure. But the selection you get when you walk into a warehouse is much smaller, and I don't think you are going to find the same stuff at all as at Wal-mart. And of course, the luggage I mentioned was Kirkland brand, which is not the same as at Walmart.

            Costco only has about 4,000 SKUs per store, while Wal-mart has 120,000+. You get far more choice for each category at Wal-Mart. That is actually not a good thing, because it takes much longer to figure out which ones are quality and

            • It sounds like your local Walmart is kind of crappy, for sure. In Houston where I live, there are 8 Super Walmarts within 5 miles, and all are well-maintained, well-staffed, lines are short, even in the returns department. I almost never have to wait to check out or return something. And they even offer free bags to help you carry your stuff to the car.

              I also don't do delivery. That's just asking for trouble. I have yet to see a brick-and-mortar store that did a great job with delivery. They almost always g

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by madbrain ( 11432 )

                Yes, the local Wal-mart is extremely crappy. No matter what you do, come in person, delivery from store, or pickup, you always lose.

                The very long checkout lines are standard. Also, the inventory listed on the web site is terrible. It's common to have a large quantity listed for something, and for it to not actually be available at all. I found that some items are only available to buy in store in person, and not orderable for delivery or pickup. Not alcohol or prescriptions either. Perfectly benign BHG food

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by madbrain ( 11432 )

                Can't believe I forgot to comment on the Target boycott. I'm glad you are doing it too, even though it's for opposite reasons. They have gotten a massive drop in store
                traffic since renouncing their DEI initiatives, so it seems that minorities care more about the DEI initiatives than the majority. But they deserve their massive loss of traffic. It would have been better for them never to start their DEI initiatives in the first place than to drop them the way they did. Betraying your customers and employees

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mjwx ( 966435 )

          Buy higher quality items from Costco instead. They rarely carry crap, or not for very long. The luggage won't cost 5x as much. I have some Kirkland brand luggage that's 25 years old and still going. Except for the cat pee smell I can't get rid of, sigh. Still waiting for the right enzyme formula to be invented. Not even the California sun can get rid of the smell, I hope it will be, which is why I didn't throw away the luggage.

          I bought a new Delsey set at Costco recently. French design, but made in Cambodia. Already inaugurated on one trip to Asia. It was on sale and maybe $150 for one large and one small.

          I have bought cheap luggage before from various places. Some didn't even make a single trip without breaking.

          I prefer to buy quality. It really does save money in the long run. And aggravation.

          I think this is more of an American penchant for putting everything in one shop.

          Here in the UK, if you want luggage, you usually go to a retailer that specialises in luggage. You can get cheap cases at the big Tesco but realistically you don't bother. Same with clothing and bedding, for the most part I go to Next or M&S. Seeing as I know how to travel, I don't do suitcases, the last bag I bought was a 75L backpack from Mountain Warehouse, it was £119 marked down 75%... That was 4 years ago and

      • Sure you could spend $300 on luggage. You could also spend $60 on a shirt. Or you could send half that amount and it would very likely still last a little longer. Electronics like the PlayStation, Switch, etc will cost the same and be of the same quality. There are definitely items they sell which will be the same as you can find elsewhere. But you are rarely getting a lower price of those items. However a lot TVs, massagers, bikes, camping equipment, etc do in fact have lower quality Wal-Mart versions br

        • My issue is with your characterization that Walmart products are "poorly made garbage." This has not been my experience, at least not since the 1970s. Their products are largely decent quality, they just tend not to be high-brow brands. THAT is where you save money at Walmart--by skipping the shopping mall brands and prices.

    • I rarely shop at Walmart, but when I do, it's either commodity shit, where price is overwhelming all that practically matters, or national brand shit - the same shit everyone else has - at the lowest price.

      Last thing I bought at Walmart was propane, and it was 17% less than my next best alternative.

      But sure, I'm "uneducated".

  • I cannot picture this (Score:3)

    by jdawgnoonan ( 718294 ) on Friday May 16, 2025 @09:44PM (#65382355)
    I prefer to go buy my own stuff. I am somewhat picky and would not appreciate some bot getting things that I think suck.

    • Yes, this. I won't even use curbside pickup, because I don't trust the shoppers to pick items that I want.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I don't think you're reading it correctly. They're telling us that the AIs will have all the fun browsing, shopping and spending... us humans will just be a source of money to fund them.
  • It will, at least, be entertaining to see a future where constant deceptive advertising now includes prompt injection attacks against various bots as well as misleading photographs and hyperbolic human-readable marketing.

  • What the fuck is the point? (Score:3)

    by karmawarrior ( 311177 ) on Friday May 16, 2025 @10:36PM (#65382435) Journal

    I'm running out of reasons to understand why AI is being inserted into everything, and I didn't have any to begin with.

    But this seems especially dumb. The current UIs (search for item or use your prior shopping list to pick what you want) work fine. Where would "AI" help? Am I going to ask for Heinz Baked Beans and it'll buy a Ryan Reynolds movie if it can't find baked beans because it's incapable of saying "I don't have an answer for that" and so instead hallucinates a request for movie?

    Where is this all going?

    • Re:What the fuck is the point? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by sound+vision ( 884283 ) on Friday May 16, 2025 @10:59PM (#65382465) Journal

      Where this is all going is "You will buy this, citizen. Consumption is your duty."

      The AI is to reduce your input in the decision-making process. They will reach into your pocket and purchase for you. For your convenience, of course.

      I'm reminded of the push in some areas to ban boycotts of Israel. They don't want you to have a choice of who and who not to do business with.

      The guys coming up with these ideas have enough money that the idea of spinning off accounts for people and handing them the keys with vague direction is normal. I don't think they comprehend how weird it sounds to regular people. Then again, there are still a bunch of people with more money than sense. Maybe they'll find a market for this stuff. People who may in fact be delighted at a box of random trinkets showing up uninvited, or at least not care enough to overcome the difficulty of cancelling.

      • People who may in fact be delighted at a box of random trinkets showing up uninvited, or at least not care enough to overcome the difficulty of cancelling.

        There are already people who sign up for a monthly "box" of random beauty products or whatever.

        Hard to see it becoming anything but a niche market, but who knows.

        • That's exactly who I was thinking of.

          I guess it feels less like theft if they drop some Chinese crap on your doorstep after reaching in your wallet.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sinij ( 911942 )

        The AI is to reduce your input in the decision-making process.

        Exactly. Also, it is only a matter of time until they figure out how to make it mandatory.

        • The bizarre thing is that the decision-making process, the browsing and selecting, is part of the draw of the consumerism they've been promoting, successfully, for generations. Shop til you drop.

          The owner class has forgotten how they even got there.

      • "Where this is all going is "You will buy this, citizen. Consumption is your duty.""

        The plot of "The Midas Plague."

    • Because trillions have been invested in "AI" to his point, and the search for ways they can be put to work and profit is frantic.

      • Agree totally. I still just cannot understand why google has made the AI result the default on a search. I never asked for it, never read it, and wouldn't trust it. All they are doing is burning power to create it which costs them money. It is baffling. Normally I'd just live with it as they do not seem to offer an easy way out. Then the register offered up a simple way to disable it easily. So I went to the trouble to add a new search engine in firefox with the special magical udm=14 string and voila, gone
    • It does seem dumb. But not entirely. If you cook at home just tell it what the menu of the week is and it will order everything. Ask it to put together a budget meal based on current promotions. It could have advantages. It probably can predict when the dishwasher tablets will run out and order a new box. There probably is an incentive not to buy too much as that would lead to expensive returns. It would also be a good platform for ads. You always buy product x, click here to get 50% on product y, it is bet

  • Alexa 2.0 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Saturday May 17, 2025 @12:01AM (#65382547) Homepage

    Why doesn't anybody use Alexa anymore? Because Amazon couldn't resist making it all about selling you stuff. Not stuff you wanted, but stuff they want you to want.

    AI isn't going to be any different. It's not going to work for YOU, it's going to get paid for by, and work for, the sellers.

  • Where I live there is a relatively nice walmart nearby, and if you paid the walmart annual premium they will pick out the groceries or whatever that you ordered from the website and deliver it to your door. Your recent shopping history is clearly visible and you can just click to get some more of what you usually get. Some unfortunate shmuck will shop it off the shelves for you. Another hard-put person will drive it to your house in their personal vehicle and haul the loot to your front door. Super convenie

  • Trust (Score:3)

    by El_Muerte_TDS ( 592157 ) on Saturday May 17, 2025 @01:34AM (#65382661) Homepage

    I barely trust myself shopping for things. No way I'm going to trust some badly generated software with that.

  • This article actually got me curious how close ChatGPT would get to guessing my top #10 grocery items, based on what it "knows" about me. Here's what it came up with:

    1. Movie theater-style popcorn
    This isn't a frequent purchase for me, as it's far too unhealthy to eat regularly. I'd call this a miss.

    2. Taco night essentials
    This is genuinely creepy. Yes, my partner and I consider this our go-to meal.

    3. Soda or sparkling water
    Okay, so it didn't nail the specific brands we tend to purchase, but it's in the b

    • Lol. Mine was even worse. Only 2 out of 10 items I ever buy. Number 1 ? Eggs, that Costco is always out of when I shop late in the day.

      In fairness to the AI, if they were trained on my Amazon, Costco and Wal-mart receipts, they could make better recommendations. If it is specific to one vendor, though, it probably won't be as successful.

  • I bet the AI would prefer shopping at Target, to avoid the unpleasantness of shopping at Walmart.

  • just Nope...

  • Why anyone would let AI shop for them? (Score:3)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Saturday May 17, 2025 @09:00AM (#65383073)
    If AI does shopping, you will end up paying highest price the market can tolerate because consumer preference will be replaced by AI preference (that will be manipulated for a fee). I understand why retailers and brands would want that to happen, but why would consumer agree to essentially buy what highest bidder to AI provider pays?
    • The other thing I don't get is why would anyone do this. Shopping is one of the few areas where you are in control. You get to decide if you want rice or pasta for dinner. Or what kind of sauce you're going to put on it. Or what vege's or meat. Imagine going to a restaurant and getting told by the waiter you're having the boiled chicken. We work and get told what to do and how to do it. I'm not even a big shopper. I've got friends who I think shop for fun, which is a weird thought to me. How would they reac

      • I want this. Here's why. I don't want to spend hours researching new products. I'd rather just give an AI a $5 a week allowance that it can save up and spend. Similar to buying a loot crate type subscription box, but the contents of the box are algorithmically generated rather than curated by a real person.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sinij ( 911942 )

          I don't want to spend [time] researching new products

          This is extremely foolish. The message doing this sends is that quality does not matter. If you think cheap throw-away crap is bad now, wait until people start using AI to shop.

        • I don't do the surprise box either, so we just don't think alike. I think adafruit does it, but I look to see whats new on adafruit's site and decide if anything perks my curiousity. But my more common way to find new stuff is come across something I want to build, and then start finding stuff to build it. Recent examples include RS-485 interface chips to talk to carrier control lines, low on resistance MOSFET's for controlling those 5050 multi-color LED strips, raspberry pico's which are amazing devices fo

  • For industrial purchasing of specialized or obscure items, it might be useful
    For consumer crap, it will be misused by advertisers and will make it harder for consumers to find anything good

  • My experience so far, using LLMs to find me what I'm looking to buy has not been good. They simply are not good enough at understanding criteria. The problem is that I only use them to find things that are hard to find. I don't need them for things that are easy to find. I'd say only about 10-20% of the time does the one I mainly use suggest a product that actually meets the criteria I specified.

  • Wait, back up. "AI shops for customers". Do they mean AI shops on behalf of customers? Or that AI itself is purchasing Wal-Mart's customers? We need clarification. This could potentially wind up being a whole To Serve Mankind scenario here.

  • ... someone will have to develop an overweight, yoga pants wearing [peopleofwalmart.com] AI.

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